First Time FreeNAS Builder

[Strobbeuh]

Hi All

I present to you Yet Another FreeNas build! Hurray!

First of I would like to explain my situation/setup at home:

Currently 1 server running Windows Server 2012 on salvaged parts.
Q6600/Gigabyte prosumer MB/16GB nonECC RAM (was my old gaming rig) in a crappy case
and for my HDD's: JBOD
1x256GB Samsung 830 SSD for the OS
2x 1TB (mirrored using robocopy/nightly task) Samsung SpinPoint=> Most of it are family pictures, documents and my music collection
1x 1TB Samsung SpinPoint for TV shows
1x 3TB WD red for my movies
This server has also been setup to make use of usenet with SABNZBD, Sickbeard, Couchpotato and Headphones. besides that I use this beast for file sharing only...
As you can see, this server not very redundant/Drive failure friendly friendly...

Then I also have build a HTPC box with an AMD CPU/SSD/Low profile fan/and onboard GPU running Windows 7, and on top of that XBMC hooked up to my only big ass TV.

The main function of my NAS would need to be:
-Store every TV show, Movie, picture, music in a separate environment than my server
-Be at least 2 disk redundant in case fo drive failure (so RAID6, RAID Z2, etc)
-Be able to serve all that media to my currently 1 XBMC HTPC (could add another one in the future)
-Store backups of my W2012 server, Gaming rig and 2 laptops
-Serve all that media to the above clients as well
-Now I have about 5TB of storage, I would at least double that amount (I'm downloading like cray now and everytinh is filling up xD ), 12-16TB of storage seems like good bit of headroom for the years to come.

So at first I wanted to buy myself a NAS to purpose all that. But those prebuild (Synology) NASes are very costly.. €700+ for a 5 Bay, €850 for a 8 Bay-_-

I nope'd the fuck outta those websites and decided I wanted to build my own, Incoming google find: FreeNAS
Before even thinking of posting here I was reading the boards heavily looking for the hardware needed (this is one of the most fun parts for me, besides the actual building itself :D )

Presenting the build itself:

MOBO: SuperMicro X10SLL+-F (€184)
CPU: Intel Pentium G3420 (€55)
RAM: Crucial CT2KIT102472BD160B (€153)
PSU: Seasonic G-Serie 360W (€56)
CASE: Fractal Design Define Mini (€80)/ Node 804 (€93)
6xWD Red 4TB in a large RaidZ2 vdev (€150 ea, so nifty €900 for all 6.. :/)

A little explanation about my choosings:
Motherboard: I chose this above the X10SL-F version over the dual intel NIC everyone seems get aroused by, and the X10SML only has a few differences (4 SATA3 <=> 2SATA2, chipset, and more USB 3.0)
CPU: I think this little warriors seems enough for the filesharing aspect, I took a little more recent than the ones suggested in the other HW threads (G2020 and G3240). I don't think I will be doing more than filesharing and ensuring
redundancy. I will keep the downloading part on my other server as it has been setup nice and properly so it can download/cache it and than move it to the FreeNAS when done with renaming/extracting and all that postprocessing shit. Any other CPU suggestion are welcome to :)
RAM: Ooooh the delicious praised Crucial/Micron ECC non-buffered RAM, 16GB should do it in my case right?
PSU: Seasonic everywhere, so that's what I'll be doing as well. Is 360W good for hitting the Gold efficiency sweet spot at 50-60% usage? I could go with the 450 for €75 if needed to though.
CASE: I think this is just personal taste, I was first thinking hot swap cages, but those were a bit pricy, so a normal µATX case that can hold all 6 drives is, I would love to hear some suggestion to what you guys have :D, Also have looking at the LIAN LI PC-V358 line (niccccce looking) but there are some issues when both HDD cages are mounted in the case (it blocks the only hole to the upper compartment for the 24pin PSU cord... :s Lian Dumbassess XD)
HDD: Pretty standard, I don't mind paying the premium for those WD red's as they will all be spinning 24/7.


In total this HDDless build should cost me about €528. which is waaaay less then the prebuilds of the same array size here. Just need to add some misc items like the 8GB flash drive, the USB2.0 Pin head to mount the flash drive on internally, SATA powerspitter or molex->Sata, ...

Is there anything missing wrong with this build?
I am definitely open for suggestion in any part of the build, but I would to keep the price as low as possible without losing too much reliability of FreeNAS

I appreciate everyone who has read this and did not fall asleep :D
Thanks!

 

[danb35]

A couple of thoughts:
* Since you're going to be storing lots of media, consider carefully whether you might want to use the Plex Media Server in the future. If so, look into a beefier CPU.
* The X10SL7 has 14 SATA ports onboard. If you think there's any realistic chance of your expanding beyond 6 disks, it would be less expensive to get the X10SL7 now than to get the X10SLL + an HBA for the additional disks.
* Many SuperMicro motherboards have an onboard USB A port, just so you can plug in your flash disk internally--you may not need an adapter.

 

[Strobbeuh]

Thanks for the suggestions danb35

*I have been looking at trying Plex, it seems a lot more user friendly and the transcoding on the fly seems cool if you are remotely with bad internet perhaps. But since I have only 1 device that really needs to access the video's locally is XBMC, it think I will stick with it. I also like the customisability of XBMC and the ROMs it can play :p

*The X10SL7 does indeed look more future proof should I need to upgrade further and its listed at €228, so for that €40 I can't really not chose it..

*I did not realize that is what it meant, thanks that save about a whole €1 no? :p
No seriously thank you for that information

 

[Ericloewe]

Besides all the above, I'd add that the G-450 is modular, so it might be worth a look. Aside from that, an i3 43xx has a bit more oomph should you require it in the future and is still reasonably priced.

 

[Starpulkka]

wd levyt on hieman herkkiä virralle.
An UninTerruPTible Power Supply might save your ZfS from a bad fur day.

 

[Strobbeuh]

Thanks, Ill modify my shopping list accordingly.
I first wanted the HW side set then I will invest my time looking for a proper UPS of course :)

 

[Strobbeuh]

OOh another question:

What if I decide to run Plex on my other (downloading) server, would I still need an i3 in this FreeNAS build?